Childcare
by Luna Darkside
Summary: Or, "That one time Shinichi and Kaito took care of the Detective Boys together, and the Detective Boys wouldn't shut up about how they like-liked each other." /requested by cloudy-dark-sky, ShinKai & KaiShin, oneshot, complete/


**Prompt: **"Hey Luna I was wondering if could do a fic where shinichi and kaito are taking care of the Detective boys and the children keep teasing the two that they like each other?"

**Requestor: **cloudy-dark-sky

**Pairing: **Kaito x Shinichi / Shinichi x Kaito

**Note(s): **Thinking about it, I've only written the Detective Boys a handful of times, so here's to hoping that they turned out somewhat in character.

**Childcare**

If Shinichi had been any less terrified of Ran, he probably wouldn't have agreed to this.

"Shinichi-oniisan, _please_, let's solve a case!" Ayumi.

"Shinichi-san, could you perhaps take us to a crime scene?" Mitsuhiko.

"Shinichi-niichan, I'm hungry!" Genta.

"You heard them, Kudou-kun. Let's go to a crime scene." The traitor (Haibara).

Rubbing his face, Shinichi smiled as patiently as he could manage. "Ayumi, I don't have any cases right now. Mitsuhiko, I can't bring four children – and I know you're the Detective Boys, but I still can't – to a police crime scene. Genta, I _just _watched you eat two bags of chips in the past five minutes. Haibara, I really hate you."

The five of them had been standing in the middle of the sidewalk outside of Teitan Elementary School, forcing passersby to edge irritably around them and shoot him suspicious looks (_why was a twenty-ish-year-old man hanging around with four children_?). Shinichi had been coerced into this by Ran, who had insisted that the Detective Boys were all _so_ sad about Conan-kun leaving for the States, and if he had even a shred of decency in him, he'd play with them at least once a week, because they _all_ admired him _so much_.

For one, Shinichi knew that the Detective Boys could get along fine without him, as Shinichi or as Conan, and for another, he kind of doubted that Haibara admired him in any way. But before he could tell her that, Ran had cracked her knuckles and donned an expression Shinichi faintly recognized as her _I can and will break concrete _look, so he'd capitulated and agreed to pick the four children up after school every Friday.

It was going _splendidly_. They'd been standing on this sidewalk for ten minutes, arguing about what to do and where to go, with Ayumi and Mitsuhiko insisting they go solve a case and Genta being absolutely no help, choosing to consume two bags of chips loudly instead of offer any sort of real opinion. Haibara just stood, smirking as Shinichi attempted negotiation.

At his last comment, Ayumi sent him a wounded look. "That's really rude to Ai-chan, Shinichi-oniisan. You shouldn't tell _anyone _you hate them."

"Yeah! Don't be mean to Haibara-san!" Mitsuhiko pitched in, putting his hands on his hips and glaring as petulantly as a gradeschooler could at Shinichi.

"That's right," Haibara agreed, clearly enjoying Shinichi's discomfort. Her eyes were uncharacteristically wide and sad. "You hurt me _so_, Kudou-kun."

"Oh no, is Ai-chan going to cry?" Ayumi exclaimed, throwing her arms around Haibara's shoulders. "Don't cry, Ai-chan!"

"It's all right, Ayumi-chan," Haibara sniffled, swiping at her completely dry eyes. "I can find it in my heart to forgive him."

"Oh, Ai-chan, you're so cool!"

Shinichi was saved from breaking down and sobbing into his hands when a familiar voice called, "Yo, Shinichi!"

Blinking, he glanced around, scanning up and down the sidewalk until he located a man with messy brown hair and indigo eyes strolling towards him.

"Really?" Shinichi groaned as the man drew to a stop a few feet from him, beaming. Of all the people he needed to find him in this situation… "How did you find out about this, Kaito?"

Kaito grinned at him, tucking his hands into his pockets. "I heard from Mouri-chan. You're going to babysitting these four today, right? Thought I'd come out to check up on you and keep you company." He turned his luminous smile on them, wiggling his fingers at them in a wave. "Hey, guys. I'm Kaito."

"Ah!" Genta shouted, pointing at him. "You're that guy!"

"Huh?" Blinking in surprise, Kaito exchanged a glance with Shinichi. Shinichi shrugged, not understanding what he meant either.

"You know!" Genta turned to Mitsuhiko, who was nodding emphatically. "The one who Shinichi-niichan always talks about whenever we see him!"

Shinichi flinched. "I do not."

"Ehhhh?" Ayumi drew out the syllable as if to establish exactly how confused she was by his answer. She looked at him questioningly, slanting her head to one side and raising an eyebrow curiously. "But you always talk about how he's so annoying and how he gets under your skin but you still like him so much!"

All of a sudden, the air around them seemed too hot, scalding, almost, and Shinichi desperately wanted a case to happen within a ten-feet radius just so he could run and save himself from this – situation.

Kaito's eyebrows were raised as he gazed at Shinichi. "Is that so." His tone was somewhere between amused and startled.

"No, it is _not _so," hissed Shinichi, feeling the beginnings of a blush crawl up his neck. Oh, who was he kidding, he was probably already bright red.

"Now, now, don't be shy," Haibara interjected, and Shinichi had a strong impulse to throttle someone. Namely, a former scientist who used to work for a criminal organization.

"But if you think about it," Mitsuhiko piped, drawing everyone's attention to him. He was stroking his chin in what Shinichi guessed was an attempt to look pensive and mature. "Doesn't the fact that Kaito-san came out here today, just to see Shinichi-san, say that he likes Shinichi-san in return?"

It was Kaito's turn to flush maroon. "Hey –"

"Oh, I see," Ayumi interrupted, clapping excitedly. "Does he want to see how good Shinichi-oniisan is with kids? My mom says that girls like to look for that in their husbands!"

"That's right," Haibara added, clearly enjoying herself. She gave a sage nod. "Every girl wants to marry someone who would make a good dad." Pause, and then a smile that could only be described as sadistic. "It seems it's not just girls, though."

"W-Why do kids know stuff like that?" Kaito choked, staring at the children with a mixture of extreme bewilderment and interested horror.

Shinichi coughed. "You're not denying it?"

Kaito visibly jumped, waving his hands frantically. "No no no, that's not what I meant, I was just, you know –"

"They like each other, don't they?" Genta attempted to whisper to Ayumi. He did not succeed at whispering.

The two men stared at each other.

"You…?" Shinichi.

"I mean…?" Kaito.

Haibara finally cleared her throat, breaking the awkward silence that had precipitated. "Well, since Kudou-kun can't take us to a crime scene, why don't we just go to the park?" Without waiting for a response, she headed down the sidewalk purposefully. The rest of the Detective Boys bounded after her, clearly unaware of the tension they had created.

Shinichi hazarded a glance at Kaito, then quickly looked away. "L-Let's go, shall we?"

"Ri… Right, yes."

* * *

><p>Kaito could say he had never been gladder to see a child go into their house than when Haibara waved, smirking (evilly, almost), and closed the door behind her.<p>

He exhaled, running a hand through his hair wearily. At his side, Shinichi did the same.

After three hours at the park with the kids, Shinichi and Kaito had been tasked with seeing all of them home, going from house to house to be sure of it.

Which was exhausting, especially after what had happened in the park. It hadn't been too stressful physically, but mentally? Kaito glanced down at the small flower tucked into his shirt pocket, which Ayumi had given Shinichi and then insisted Shinichi give to his "crush." Even when Shinichi had gotten flustered and tried to tell her that Kaito wasn't his crush, Ayumi had pushed the flower at Shinichi and _demanded_.

And then there was that fake marriage ceremony that Haibara had initiated – Kaito was pretty sure there was something off about her; no child should know _all _of the marriage vows – and in which Kaito and Shinichi had played the roles of bride and groom, respectively. (He didn't understand why he had been cast as the bride, but apparently it was because "he wanted to see if Shinichi-oniisan would make a good dad, just like a girl!".)

In addition to that, Mitsuhiko had concocted an odd – _play _or something about a detective (Shinichi) and a criminal (Kaito) falling in love. It had been both strangely true to their real relationship and also weirdly abundant in Kamen Yaiba references, but for the most part, having a kid yell, "And in this scene, Kaito-san has to kiss Shinichi-san to break the spell!" was just really awkward and resulted in Kaito pecking Shinichi very uncomfortably on the cheek.

"So."

Kaito's thoughts were broken when Shinichi glanced over at him, eyebrows raised.

He swallowed and started down the professor's front walk. "Yes?"

"_Do _you like me?"

Heart nearly stopping, Kaito ground to a halt, turning to look at the detective wide-eyed. "_What_?"

Shinichi shrugged, cheeks painted pink. "I – don't know. You put up with all of…" He waved a hand uncomfortably. "That. The stuff with the flower, and the wedding, and the play. So I don't know, it made me… wonder."

"O-Oh." Kaito blinked, mind racing. How should he answer this question? Truthfully, with a "yes, I've kind of been in love with you since the first time you showed up at my heist in your real, superbly attractive body", or a "no, I pretend to marry every cute, amazing detective I meet"?

He didn't have to make the choice when Shinichi added, almost shyly, "I wouldn't mind if you do, you know."

"You – really?" Kaito nearly choked.

"Um… yes."

"Rea – Really, oh." And suddenly Kaito was grinning as he fingered the flower in his pocket. "In that case – yes."

Shinichi's eyes were bright azure as he beamed. "Great," he said, and kissed Kaito fleetingly on the mouth.

From inside the professor's house, Haibara watched and smiled faintly to herself.

* * *

><p><strong>HOLYSHITTHISWASMYLASTREQUEST-!<strong>

**So, uh, yeah. I've finally finished posting all the requests that I received! Let me tell you, it was definitely a wild ride. But maybe I'll do it again in another two years...? XD**

**As far as updating from now on, updates will (obviously) slow. I'm going to take a week off to sort myself out, and then maybe I'll return to the roughly-one-fic-a-week schedule I used to have waaaay before the requests.**

**Love to all of you. Stay beautiful! :) - Luna**


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